Raising my body from the bed, I could see Tong’s frightening-looking face.

Waking up and having to see a face that even a kid would run away from was sure a bad omen for today.

“Haa…”

“Oi, why are you sighing because of me? I thought you’d be more obedient after getting thrown into the forest but my expectations weren’t met. It was a thin hope.”

Well, there was a reason why Tong was saying that. Leaving this hard-faced looking guy aside, I behaved myself when I’m around the other four guys.

While I engaged in some idle chatter with Tong, I finished getting dressed. After that, I headed towards the dining room for breakfast. Once I finished eating, I exited the lodging house.

I also brought along a bucket of fruits with me from the dining room and I made my way towards Bluerin’s stable.

Peering inside the stable.. the Blue Grizzly, Bluerin, was sleeping on top of a bundle of straw.

“Bluerin, are you awake?”

“……. Gu?”

You just woke up now huh.

While gently stroking its head, I took out one apple from the bucket of fruits and held it out in front of Bluerin.

As the fruit got closer to Bluerin’s nose, he sniffed its fragrance with a sun sun sound and opened its mouth wide and took it in one bite.

“There, there.”

“Hafu…… Hafu.”

As it was slowly chewing its food, I took out another fruit for Bluerin after he gulped the previous one down.

In doing so, I didn’t forget to gently caress Bluerin again with my hand.

Fufufu, he’s well-behaved and on top of that, there was this pleasant fur.

I was stupidly grinning while presenting fruits to him. Anyone seeing this appearance of mine would probably think that it was very disgusting.

“You were here huh. I was looking for you.”

“Leader? What’s the matter? It shouldn’t be time for training yet.”

From the entrance, Rose entered with a displeased face.

Well, it was her usual expression. I don’t think it was anything to worry about.

“Today’s training will be… What’s this thing’s name?”

“Are you referring to Bluerin?”

“Blue… rin? Is that supposed to be a name?”

Since Rose asked about Bluerin’s name, I explained to her how I ended up thinking of his name.

Once I did, Rose’s eyes went blank.

It was an unusual expression from her, it felt somewhat refreshing.

“You, are you fine with that name?”

“Eh, isn’t it a good name? Right Bluerin?”

“Kapu.”

I tried to stroke its head with my hand but it was bitten with a kapu sound.

This was surely just because Bluerin was feeling embarrassed.

This was just this child’s expression of love. Therefore, I wasn’t suffering at all.

“Look, Bluerin likes it a lot.”

“I-Is that so? In that case, I will be having this Bluerin participate in your training with you starting from today.”

Me and Bluerin?

Releasing my hand from his mouth, Bluerin tilted his head to the side while looking up at Rose.

“This guy is also a member of the Rescue Squad. He should participate in your training no?”

“Yeah, you think you’re up for it? Bluerin.”

Throwing my words to see Bluerin’s reaction, he naturally understood and gave out a cry as if he was inspiring himself.

“It looks like he’s up for it.”

“Time is precious. Let’s hurry up and go.”

Taking Bluerin along, Rose left the stable.

Somehow, my heart felt like it was excited for training since it had been a while.

…… Eh? Was it possible that I had been trained this way by Rose?

*

“Alright, Usato. Blue…… rin, carry him on your shoulder.”

“Come again?”

I was curious as to why you hesitated in saying Bluerin’s name but apart from that, there was another part I was concerned with.

Why was I carrying Bluerin on my shoulders? Wasn’t he going to run together with me?

“Don’t talk back, run while wearing these weights and carrying Bluerin on your shoulders.”

“Weights!?”

“Isn’t that obvious? This bear is slightly heavier than a human, that’s why it’s just right. Just think of it as mock training to prepare for the real thing. Run like you would as if the bear needed treatment. Don’t take him off with your hands or anything, do it as if it was on an actual battlefield.”

“…… Yesss, I understand……”

I wore the vest with weights in them.

While thinking it was a familiar sensation, I lifted Bluerin up and put him on my shoulders.

This was really light, I could do this.

“Are you alright? Bluerin.”

“Gua.”

Bluerin lightly brushed the top of my head with his chin.

On the upper part of my body, I was wrapped in Bluerin’s soft fur… This was a warm and comfortable feeling.

Seeing Rose sitting under the shade of a tree, I shouted out to her while burning a little with passion,

“Fufufu, leader, I’ll show you the combination between me and Bluerin!!”

“Don’t chatter pointlessly, hurry up and start running.”

It was evident that Rose’s tone sounded almost irritated… that wouldn’t be something I would want to experience. After a short while, I broke into a run.

The running route was the usual one I had been using for training; it was in a circle within the forest.

It wasn’t a very spacious plot of land, and so I would be running in circles a lot.

……My mind and body felt light. Maybe my body was tempered during my survival lifestyle. Or perhaps it was during the struggle with that snake and the rapid use of healing magic influenced my muscles and bones by making them stronger.

“Yeah right, there’s no way a manga-like development like that would happen.”

“Gwu?”

“Aah, sorry sorry, just talking to myself.”

While I was running, I also covered myself with healing magic and formed a thin membrane around my body.

Using healing magic like this made the healing effects weaker compared to concentrating it in one spot. However, the strong point in using my magic like this was being able to heal my whole body at once.

Without this, I definitely wouldn’t have been able to follow through with Rose’s training.

I had been running for approximately 2 hours now. I had also been maintaining a constant speed but I wasn’t tired yet. I had been using my magical power conservatively as well. I could also say that if I didn’t raise myself to at least this level, I wouldn’t be alive right now.

“I can still go on…”

I ran for approximately 4 hours now. It was then that I started to feel a sense of discomfort embracing my body.

My legs were heavy and it felt painful to breathe. I still had plenty of stamina left but something was obstructing me. My body’s behavior was becoming an obstacle.

“…..”

Bluerin shook his body to show he was worried, but I couldn’t give a response to him.

Gradually my body felt heavier and my running speed rapidly slowed down. Just as I passed directly under the sun’s rays, I ultimately fell down. After letting Bluerin down, I ended up lying down like the 大 character.

“Haa, haa, haa…… what…… this….”

I didn’t notice that I exhausted my magical power.

If it was just fatigue, I should be able to restore it. I should’ve saved enough magical power to last for at least half a day too…..

While I was lying down, Rose was reading under the shade of the tree. She came closer to me and looked down towards my face.

“Do you understand? This is the current hypothesis concerning your physical strength that humans are burdened with.”

“Hypo… thesis?”

“The human body is an interesting thing. Depending on the amount of stress, it will have an effect on fatigue to a certain degree. Feelings like tension, fear, and uneasiness will cause a human’s body to experience fatigue. Let’s use Bluerin as an example. You were carrying him but let’s say you replaced him with a human instead. Now, if you were on a real battlefield doing the same thing, there’s no doubt you would use up all your strength in a shorter period of time.”

“If that’s the case, what should I do?”

“Get used to it. Other than that, acquire the emotional strength and judgment to not be seized by fear. This is what today’s training is going to be about. Here.”

Rose placed her hand on my head and a green light shone.

A warm light wrapped around my whole body and at the same time, my fatigue faded away. As one would expect, my magical power was still depleted. However, I was now at least able to recover myself to the degree of being able to stand again.

“Thank you very much.”

“For now, try to recover your magical power. We’re going to do the same thing in the afternoon.”

……One way or another, this person was good at taking care of others.

When I was in the forest, she didn’t return back to the kingdom by herself… It seemed like she was in the forest as well.

What was more, she unexpectedly likes animals.

“Leader you…”

“Nn?”

“You’re a tsundere eh.”

“What does that word mean?”

“No no, it’s nothing of concern.”

As expected, it would be bad for her to know what this term meant. That being the case, I’ll shut this within my heart.

“…… If that’s so then it’s fine. In the afternoon, run around in the neighborhood town that surrounds the castle.”

“……Eh? Could it be I have to do it while carrying Bluerin?”

“What else is there other than that?”

If it was like that, wouldn’t I end up getting a lot of attention from a large number of people?

Shiru: I’ve been busy but just like maybe most of the readers here, I want to know what happens next in Chiyu as well. I’ve also been helping out other translators with some of their projects too. I-It’s not like I like translating or anything!

why not? honestly I got tired of the all the high-pitched younger and (mostly) flat-chested tsundere architype they use in anime lately.
This one is not only a war veteran with a realistic point of view so it makes her being harsh on herself and the MC very reasonable and fitting, she is also not a hypocrite and balances her tsun and dere side.